Cold Mountain Free Essays

On the surface, Cold Mountain is the tale of a man trying to find his way home. However, once looked at in more detail, it is seen as a story of a man looking for faith. From the very first step, Inman’s journey is one of faith, a faith that he has lost in the Civil War and is on the road to recovering. We will write a custom essay sample on Cold Mountain or any similar topic only for you Order Now We know little of Inman’s life prior to his journey, but what we do learn tells us that he was at one point a Christian. In his youth he had been taught, and he believed in, the basics of the Christian faith. Specifically, he believed in heaven, the immortality of soul, and that we are all children of God. Cold Mountain is the story of a man who has undergone a traumatic experience, the likes of which has stolen away from him all optimism and hope for a better tomorrow. However, as Inman plans to step out the window of the hospital and begin his journey home, his faith in God seems to wither away. The horrors of what he has experienced in the war have â€Å"burned away† (page 36) his Christian faith. He no longer believes in the easy answers to the problems of life given by Christians. His faith is further questioned when he meets Veasey, the preacher who has impregnated his lover and who attempts to murder her in order to cover it up. Even after Veasey is discovered and thrown out of town, claiming to be a changed man through God, his life does not show evidence of this. He goes on to rob a store and sleep with a prostitute. Upon these activities, Inman states that many preachers are just like Veasey. They claim to be able to save the worst of sinners, and yet can’t save themselves. This hypocritical lifestyle was a major contributing factor to Inman losing his faith. Inman’s spiritual struggle is not merely a battle with his own inner demons. Inman’s main struggle is with God himself, claiming to feel like an abused child of God. In a conversation with a blind man, he was stunned to discover that no person had put out the man’s eyes. He had been born that way. He then asked himself, â€Å"How did you find someone to hate for a thing that just was? â€Å". (page 82) Throughout this story, we learn that when faced with situations like this Inman blames God. He holds God responsible for the way things are. For example, when Inman travels through the woods and sees a meteor shower, he is convinced that it has been aimed at him. He looks at any unfortunate situation as a deliberate attempt by God to bring him pain. Throughout Cold Mountain, Inman faces many obstacles that question his faith. Having lost it from the beginning, these obstacles only further convince him that God is not now or ever looking out for him. Only after facing all of these obstacles does he finally find redemption in his faith through the trials of life. How to cite Cold Mountain, Essay examples Cold Mountain Free Essays Shakespeare English | Spoken Task Cold Mountain The Feel Of The Air ‘Everything had a name. To live fully in a place all your life, you kept aiming smaller and smaller in attention to detail. ’ â€Å"†¦as Swimmer explained it, the characters of those animals too would transfer to Inman- wheeling grace, soar and stoop, grim single- mindedness. We will write a custom essay sample on Cold Mountain or any similar topic only for you Order Now † Page 18 This passage admits of the intrinsic power of nature to reflect and influence a person, the function of pathetic fallacy and presumably part of ideology of he Cherokee people. Good morning Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, I am the writer of Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier. Firstly I would like to acknowledge you all for being here today and being able to explore Cold Mountain including shaping devices and techniques. I would like to examine the literary constructions in Cold Mountain, in terms of the novel’s journey and landscape structures and to attempt to determine how well these fictionally built environments reflect the internal processes of the two main characters Ada and Inman. In other words, we can connect the external environment with the internal geography to create depth. Cold Mountain is a place of intense elements, it is a place of which all emotions and actions are played out, a place where life and death is held. The novel follows Inman’s journey home from the slaughter he has witnessed in the Civil War. Inman is intelligent, literate and sensitive, although he often appears emotionally reserved. Troubled by the carnage he has witnessed, Inman seeks spiritual solace in the natural world and his memories of Ada. The feel of the air, through, suggested that they were on a ridge and that there was much open air and gravity around them† (Page 372). Inman attempts to retain his hope and his faith in a better world in the face of incomprehensible violence and cruelty. There are some characters in which are more significant in this respect than others and they have more of an actual influence on Inman’s journey. One of these characters is Veasey, the preacher. Veasey is a general negative influence on Inman’s odyssey. Despite Veaseys annoying habits, he saves Inman’s life in the end, therefor even the negative influences that Inman’s experiences on his odyssey, result in a positive outcome. I have used seasonal variation as an allegorical device to reflect the development of the characters, Ada, Inman and Ruby. These characters seem to evolve in connection with nature’s changes and cycles â€Å"The axle of my life† Each character belongs to both the present and the past; each effectively becomes a timeless traveler. Both the men and the women find Cold Mountain covered with traces of an older civilization. Arrowheads, ‘Indian’ trails and stone slabs covered with ancient writing, symbolizing a lost world that time has placed out of reach. As the writer, I use archeological objects to reintroduce the idea of man as a being who leaves only traces of his presence in the world. This chapter in the novel questions whether man evolves or regresses over time, or whether things simply change. ‘It would have been possible to frame the arrow as some relic, a piece of another world, and Ada did something like that. She saw it as an object already numbered among the things that were. (page 412). Even the landscape suggests this duality as pristine snow falls around black trees. Like life itself, the world is filled with stark contrasts. Inman exhibits cunning, bravery and especially endurance as he overcomes all challenges to reach Ada. The climax occurs when Inman, who has survived, being hunted through his travels, finally reaches Ada and finds himself at gunpoint rather than i n an embrace. The climax lingers as Inman and Ada, both considerably changed by their recent circumstances, and become reacquainted and complete their love for each other. This is shown in the small cottage located on Cold Mountain, where Ada and Inman made love. The novel cannot be described as a tragedy though, because Ada ends up with Inman’s child and his love of the idyllic lifestyle on Cold Mountain. After examining the literary constructions in Cold Mountain, in terms of the novel’s journey and landscape structures and attempting to determine how well these fictionally built environments reflect the internal processes of the two main characters Ada and Inman, have reflected and impacted not only on Ada and Inman also the novel, and the view on the readers. The novel not only connects to the external environment but also the internal geography of ourselves. Bibliography | | Internet| Williams, James B. â€Å"Customer Reviews Cold Mountain. † Amazon. com: Customer Reviews: Cold Mountain. 2 June 2008. Web. 17 Apr. 2012. http://www. amazon. com/Cold-Mountain-Charles-Frazier/product-reviews/0802142842 How to cite Cold Mountain, Papers